Ah, motorcycle maintenance.

[agent_dani]

windrdr wasn't able to ride to work today as she wanted because she couldn't get her bike to start. When I arrived home (after she and I met for dinner) I tried and had the same behavior, though it did fire briefly the first time I cranked it. That I couldn't smell gasoline from the tail pipe helped me narrow it down - most likely the engine wasn't getting any fuel, even with the choke set fully!

I believe I located the culprit: the hose on the vacuum port of the #4 carburetor has cracked. I'll bet that's why there's no fuel. That hose is probably connected to the vacuum-operated valve on the tank petcock, and there's not a great deal of vacuum present when cranking.